Calling all Virginia Democrats

In January I predicted that the Virginia Gubernatorial Democratic primary (TODAY) would be big story and a huge indicator as to the direction of the Democratic Party.

I was half right. This race indicates the direction of the party but it hasn't really been a huge story. It hasn't really been covered on mainstream cable news as much as one would have though, especially given that Terry McAuliffe makes for such trainwreck TV.

I guess Democratic Party reform efforts won't get any attention when the GOP can't even throw a damn dinner party without the whole thing turning into a soap opera.

Anyway, I still think it's HUGELY important to keep Terry McAuliffe out of the general election. I was thinking Brian Moran would be the alternative candidate to take him down but it turns out that Creigh Deeds has hugely impressed VA voters. Go with either.

Anybody but the hack.

Terrymania is a surefire way to undo the progress that the Left has achieved in Virginia.

If you've got a pal in Virginia, call 'em up and remind them to vote today.

More on Kaine

Al Giordano shares my sentiments.

Tim!

I have always liked Tim Kaine and I think he'll make an excellent DNC Chairman, though the position is a little less critical with a Democratic President.

Kaine and Virginia Democrats generally speaking benefited greatly from Howard Dean's 50 state strategy. Obama has embraced that strategy and I believe that Kaine has some unique abilities in that regard.

Dean devoted resources to building party infrastructure in politically unfriendly environments, refusing to allow the traditional conservative social wedge issues to be the only policy battles on which campaigns were fought. Part of this was a concerted effort to weave specific progressive policies into a wider narrative in which progressive 'values' were expressed as Judeo-Christian 'values.' It was critical to national efforts to fight back against the notion that only the GOP could be the party of faith and religiosity.

Tim Kaine, a devout Roman Catholic, was seen as something of a poster child for this effort when he was elected Governor of Virginia in 2005. Unafraid to discuss his faith, he was able to demonstrate that his policy positions were grounded in a relatable world view.

Barack Obama has been able to accomplish the same thing, attracting young evangelicals and religious Latinos to his electoral coalition.

One of the primary functions of the DNC Chair over the next 4-8 years will be to go on television and beat the drum for party policy. Kaine is a good communicator for the reasons I've described above and is as solid choice as DNC Chair as I can come up with.

Dean on Louisiana

I just left a blogger conference call with DNC Chairman Howard Dean. Pretty neat right?

I even aksed a dumb cwestion.

Let me paraphrase it and Chairman Dean's response.

Me:

I have a question out of New Orleans where obviously we have had some difficult circumstances. Given some of the problems with our local and state party infrastructure in this increasingly red state, can you describe how the DNC might advance the fifty state strategy in increasingly challenging environments such as here in Louisiana?

Chairman Dean, again paraphrased:

Well I don't believe Louisiana has a problem with it's state party infrastructure. The biggest problem has been the displacement of such a large base of reliable Democratic voter base. Losing the governor's office also doesn't help, as that's a very important leadership position and that's kind of undermined a lot of state party efforts. The DNC, since the storm, has had to provide a great deal of monetary assistance to the state Democratic Party in Louisiana. We're hoping to provide more help moving forward. We're not forgetting about Louisiana, I went through Louisiana on a bus tour before we decided which states we were going to target for the 2008 cycle. Mississippi and Alabama too...

I really wanted to ask a follow-up. I wanted to know whether or not he believed that the diminished credibility of some high profile New Orleans-area politicians was undermining the Democratic Party's mission statewide. But I didn't have the chance. Oh well.

Not so sure people would agree with his rosy assessment of state party leadership.

Happy Birthday Howard Dean.

--

I have heard rumors that a close relative of Howard Dean is now living in New Orleans, doing some pretty noble and thankless work. I don't think he yet reads We Could Be Famous.